A GROUP of friends have thrown themselves into a chilly Essex river to raise funds for a man who was seriously injured in a quad biking accident. John Crook was on the Greek Island of Crete last summer when he fell from his quad bike and was left fighting for his life.

A GROUP of friends have thrown themselves into a chilly Essex river to raise funds for a man who was seriously injured in a quad biking accident.

John Crook was on the Greek Island of Crete last summer when he fell from his quad bike and was left fighting for his life.

The 41-year-old from Colchester suffered brain damage but he has made amazing progress thanks to specialist treatment and his family are hoping he will be released from Homerton Hospital in Hackney later this year.

In a bid to raise thousands towards the equipment Mr Crook is going to need, such as an electric wheelchair, his friends and family decided a sponsored out-of-season dip in the River Colne was a good idea.

So, last week five men and four women, including John's brother, George, plunged into the water off Brightlingsea promenade.

There have been a number of other fund raising events for John, of Stalin Way, .

Last night his mother Audrey said: “When the accident first happened, he could hardly do anything at all, but now he phones up from hospital and natters away.

“He is doing brilliantly, although he has left side neglect which means his body does not know it has a left side.

“I think it is a miracle what he can do now, compared to when it happened, as doctors warned us he would be a vegetable”.

She said the fund-raising dip had gone well, and hoped to raise hundreds of pounds from it.

james.hore@eadt.co.uk